My house has a definite preference for dark meat when it comes to turkey, unless the meat coming off the smoker is a turkey breast ;). But today was all about the dark meat, so got a mess of turkey thighs, removed the skin and brined them overnight in the same brine I use for making the Thanksgiving turkey. Smoked with apple for 2 hours at 230F, then upped the temp to 250F until I got an IT of 165. These are definitely good eats and the apple cider vinegar in the brine gives them a definite tang when eating! Great when diced and served with a pasta and white sauce. Just as good when held with 2 fingers and attacked with your teeth as any good carnivore would do!
(http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/3281/turkeythighs.jpg) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/829/turkeythighs.jpg/)
If you are interested, here's the brine recipe. I use the amount shown for a 12-16 lb bird; for the thighs I cut down the amounts of each ingredient depending on how many I'm going to smoke.
Turkey Brine:
3 gal. Water 1 1/3 C. honey
3 C. coarse kosher salt 1 1/3 C. apple cider vinegar
2 1/3 C. soy sauce 1 1/3 Tbsp. black pepper
1 1/3 C. white sugar 6 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 1/3 C. brown sugar 2 tsp. Allspice
Heat water/salt/sugars to rolling boil. Take off burner, add other ingredients. Allow mixture to cool before placing meat into solution (To speed up this process, use 1 Gal. of water, then add cold water with ice to make up the remaining amount after you've finished adding all ingredients). Place turkey in non-reactive container (read: plastic – 5 gal bucket works well) and cover with brine. Refrigerate for 8-12 hours. Remove turkey from the refrigerator, discard brine, rinse well, inside and out. Pat dry. Place on wire rack sitting on rimmed baking sheet and place in refrigerator, uncovered, for 6-12 hours.
Enjoy!
Nice color on them bird parts.
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They look great Tom. When I brine chicken or turkey, it always turns out tender and juicy. My Wife and I think the thigh is the best part. I hope you have some left over for snacks for tomorrow and the Super Bowl, but I would bet you don't. ;D